‘Man on a Ledge’ Director Asger Leth and Mads Mikkelsen ‘Move On’ With Audience-Crafted Film

After the disastrousMan on a Ledge came and went a few months back, ScreenDaily reports that director Asger Leth is going back to his native country of Denmark for what sounds like an entirely unique endeavor — all while opting to work with a national treasure. For his third film, Leth will direct Mads Mikkelsen in Move On, a road story that uses a screenplay by Matt Greenhalgh (Control) as the jumping-off point for an experience crafted with the assistance of audiences across eleven countries (Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, the Netherlands and, Slovakia.)

The basic outline sounds familiar to any one of us — a mysterious man, one the director hopes can be “an iconic character,” must transport a briefcase across Europe — but members of the aforementioned countries, with enough interest and effort, can lend their assistance by choosing music, props, clothing, locations, character names, or even the supporting actors.

When the project comes together, each country will be featured in one of the film’s “episodes,” each of which comprise somewhere between five and eight minutes; should a proposed sequel go through, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the same route is taken. It makes me think of Edgar Wright‘s interesting and entertaining animated web series, Brandon Generator, which, though appearing to follow a pre-ordained plot, depends on ideas members of the audience pitch to those working behind-the-scenes. It’s also similar in the sense that Leth, wanting to maintain control, won’t let it devolve into a “free for all” without any sort of coherent center.

Move On, for lack of a better term, sounds absolutely fascinating. I have the obvious and expected reservations about letting everyday people chime in on the filmmaking process — that saying about too many cooks in one kitchen comes to mind — but a unique disaster is always preferable to a generic dud. And, coming off Man on a Ledge, at least Leth is willing to swing in the complete other direction.